


What're you doing in Portland

by daisyjo



Category: Leverage, The Librarians (TV 2014)
Genre: Eliot Spencer and Jacob "Jake" Stone are Twins, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-01
Updated: 2020-04-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:35:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23434771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/daisyjo/pseuds/daisyjo
Summary: When Jones suggested they check out a high rated brewpub not too far from the Annex’s main doors, even Stone was quick to give in. And he is sure glad he did.
Relationships: Eliot Spencer (Leverage) & Jacob "Jake" Stone
Comments: 6
Kudos: 126





	What're you doing in Portland

Jake Stone was excited. The team of Librarians-who-might-no-longer-be-in-training had just rescued a never studied Dead Sea Scroll from the Judaean Desert that the Clippings Book sent them to find. Everyone was high on adrenaline and feeling lots of comradely. When Jones suggested they check out a high rated brewpub not too far from the Annex’s main doors, even he was quick to give in. The three of them piled into Jake’s pickup and found parking just a few blocks from the Bridgeport Brewery.   
As Jake opened the door and held it for his colleagues, ever the polite, southern boy his mama raised him to be, he heard Ezekiel’s shout of surprise. Stepping inside he day Jones on the floor with a blonde woman attempting to beat the shit out of him. Jake quickly stepped in and got the blonde in a hold, freeing Jones from her grasp.   
“Dammit Parker! How many times have we told you not to fight the patrons?” From his position holding this “Parker” and kneeling on the ground, Jake could only see the bottom half of the man who helped Jones into a standing position, but his voice was familiar.   
“You can go ahead and let her go, she won’t be causing you any more problems, will she” the voice said again. Slowly, Jake loosened his grip on Parker, but she hit him in the face as soon as she saw it.  
“Eliot clone!” Looking up, Jake could see the mystery man had Parker hiding behind him with a threatening glare. Looking farther up, Jake saw an eerie reflection of himself.  
“You-you are supposed to be dead.” The words tumbled out of his mouth as he slowly backed up. The dog tags around Jakes neck seemed to burn and he placed his hand over them. His breath came out faster and faster as the world around the other man began to dim. Suddenly, Cassandra was by his side quietly talking to him.  
“Jake, can you focus on breathing? In…out,” she mimicked Jakes own words for when Cassandra had one of her synesthesia overloads. As he calmed down, he saw a previously hidden black man whisper into Cassandra’s ear and then she nodded.   
“Okay, Jake, this guy says he’s your brother, so I guess these people are good people because you are. How about we go upstairs to their office and you two can catch up?” Jake does not know how to react, so he numbly nods, one hand clutching the dog tags through his shirt. 

Eliot has felt guilt before. Hell, most of his conscious hours were spent with at least a slight undercurrent of guilt, but this was something else. His little brother was sent into a panic attack at the mere sight of his face. Jake, who Eliot had sworn to protect and love, who’s safety in Oklahoma had been one of the only things keeping Eliot going some days. He quickly explained to the redhead and the boy Parker had been fighting that Jake was his brother. Hardison, who had apparently been watching this who thing, suggested to Eliot that they take the party upstairs. Eliot let the other man lead the way, opting to stay in back where he could see his brother. 

By the time the six of them had made it to the stairs Jake had mostly calmed down. His breathing had returned to normal, but his emotions had nowhere to settle. The initial shock had given way to a confusing mix of relief, joy, anger, sadness, and so much more. As Cassandra lead him upstairs, he struggled to find his mental footing, but by the time they were shown into a comfortably furnished living room his mind had settled on one feeling-anger. As soon as his brother’s face came into view that anger seemed to grow, and he drew back his arm.

Reacting with anger had not been unexpected. Reacting with violence, even, had not been unexpected. Both brothers had been in their fair share of fights and brawls before they graduated high school. Being raised in a household with their father had instilled in them the idea that violence was a valid problem-solving method. No, the surprise was that the single blow had Eliot on the ground halfway across the room. He had, of course, anticipated the blow, but made no moves to block it; Eliot deserved whatever Jake did to him. Of course, Eliot had braced for the impact He sat up from where he was lying on his back and was the whole lot of them staring at him.   
“That’s quite the punch you’ve got there, Jakey.” The man in question fell to his knees, tears starting to fall from his eyes. At that sight Eliot stood up and quickly made his way over to the other man. He knelt beside him and Jake pulled him into a hug, burying his face into Eliot’s shoulder. 

The hug seemed to last forever and yet altogether too short. Jake was scared that Eliot would somehow disappear as soon as he opened his eyes. He did though, open his eyes. He extricated himself from the hug and held his brother’s shoulders as he inspected. 

Eliot inspected the other. Jake looked good. He had prominent laugh lines and a noticeable dent in his nose from when Eliot broke it when the twins were in middle school. He was tan and was in good shape. His right forearm bore a tattoo. His eyes were red from crying, but he was smiling through a slightly trembling jaw. 

Eliot had let his hair grow out. It had always been long growing up, but he had to cut it when he joined the military. Somewhere in his mind Jake started to make notes and deductions regarding his thought to be dead brother. The headband and coat suggested that he was a cook in the pub downstairs. There were slight scars that Jake did not know if he wanted the stories behind. Eliot’s southern accent was less pronounced than Jakes’s, but that was only because Jake had been at home until recently and Eliot hadn’t for fifteen years. There were so many lines on his brother’s face and something disconcerting about his eyes. 

“So, Jakey, what are you doing in Portland? I thought you were still back home with Dad.” Eliot asked. He had made it a habit to check in on the Stones every so often. Eliot knew that no matter how hard he tried to keep his family safe there was always a possibility that someone could make the connection between him and his folks.   
“No,” Jake responded, “you don’t get to ask what I am doing in Portland when I don’t even know what you’re doing alive. We got a fucking flag El. I-” he reaches into his shirt and pulls out the dog tags “I thought you were dead.”   
“You have no idea how many times I wanted to reach out, how many times I almost did. But I couldn’t. I wanted too but it would put you in danger. I’ve- I’ve done bad things Jakey. There are really powerful people out there, powerful and evil, who want me dead.”  
“I don’t understand.”  
“The government helped me fake my death so I could make a new identity and go undercover. Shit happened and I found myself without any back up and there was only one way out: though. I did bad things for bad people because that was my only option. I never came back to you because I am dangerous. Not only that but I needed to know that no matter how far I fell there would still be someone out there who didn’t think I was a monster. 

Jake relaxed as he silently forgave Eliot for all the terrible things he was not being told.   
“No matter what you have done, I am never going to think of you as a monster.”


End file.
